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Hopkins's high school dropout study draws criticism
Issue date: 12/6/07
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Seventeen hundred American high schools are "drop out factories," according to a recent report from the Hopkins Center for Social Organizations of Schools.
The study has been met with considerable criticism. School administrators and educators nationwide have criticized the study for its use of the "dropout factory" label as well as its treatment of local and district enrollment data.
"The city of Trenton is in complete uproar over the report," Lucy Guzmán, a Trenton Central High School board member, said.
"The report has been discussed repeatedly at Board of Education meetings. Superintendents of the high school have taken offense to the term 'dropout factory.'"
Tony Mack, a freeholder of Mercer County, N.J., convened a special meeting to bring attention to all high schools in Mercer County on Saturday Dec. 1.
"Together, we have to figure out how to keep kids in school through to graduation and provide whatever they need, such as protection from harm, vocational and technical education, part-time jobs, tutoring or counseling," Mack said.
No school labeled as a dropout factory in the state of Maryland returned to comment on the report.
Critics of the report say the simple comparison of freshman enrollment with senior enrollment fails to take into account various other factors including students who transfer out, repeat a grade or are expelled.
Bob Balfanz, author of the report, argues that these occurrences do not account for the extraordinarily high number of students not reaching 12th grade.
"This can introduce some bias," Balfanz said, "but not enough to fundamentally alter the proposition that a high school in which there are routinely 60 or fewer seniors for every 100 freshmen who started is a high school with a high probability of low graduation and high dropout rates."
"I don't think it will skew a lot of the results," said Mary Maushard, communications director for CSOS.
"Transferring out is a natural process in schools but students don't leave in huge numbers. Where then do the vast majority of the kids go?"
The study has been met with considerable criticism. School administrators and educators nationwide have criticized the study for its use of the "dropout factory" label as well as its treatment of local and district enrollment data.
"The city of Trenton is in complete uproar over the report," Lucy Guzmán, a Trenton Central High School board member, said.
"The report has been discussed repeatedly at Board of Education meetings. Superintendents of the high school have taken offense to the term 'dropout factory.'"
Tony Mack, a freeholder of Mercer County, N.J., convened a special meeting to bring attention to all high schools in Mercer County on Saturday Dec. 1.
"Together, we have to figure out how to keep kids in school through to graduation and provide whatever they need, such as protection from harm, vocational and technical education, part-time jobs, tutoring or counseling," Mack said.
No school labeled as a dropout factory in the state of Maryland returned to comment on the report.
Critics of the report say the simple comparison of freshman enrollment with senior enrollment fails to take into account various other factors including students who transfer out, repeat a grade or are expelled.
Bob Balfanz, author of the report, argues that these occurrences do not account for the extraordinarily high number of students not reaching 12th grade.
"This can introduce some bias," Balfanz said, "but not enough to fundamentally alter the proposition that a high school in which there are routinely 60 or fewer seniors for every 100 freshmen who started is a high school with a high probability of low graduation and high dropout rates."
"I don't think it will skew a lot of the results," said Mary Maushard, communications director for CSOS.
"Transferring out is a natural process in schools but students don't leave in huge numbers. Where then do the vast majority of the kids go?"
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